The Cat and the Crow
by zuzuthezombie
Summary: Shawn now owns the house, and Arrietty and her family move back in.  But what happens when Squeaky Clean Exterminators capture them?  I own nothing.
1. I Never Forgot

**Ollo! So, I just went and saw The Secret World of Arrietty. And I have to say, I loved it! It's a must-see. It made my cry, but I guarantee you will like it! Okay, maybe not guarantee, but you get the idea... anyway, this story _IS NOT_ the Borrowers, because this site doesn't have that category yet. In the flashbacks, I'm not exactly following canon, as you may see, but I hope you forgive me, because it's just minor stuff, like dialogue. Enjoy!**

**EDIT: I fixed some errors in this chapter, so if you are just reading this for the first time you won't notice them.**

I'm 20 years old now, and I own this house. The house where I first met Arrietty. The surgery went well, I'm much better, but still sick most of the time. Not as sick as I was, mostly I have headaches and I seem to catch every germ that floats through the air, but otherwise I'm fine.

I drive up the shady road, dapples of sunlight hitting the packed dirt. As I get out of the car, I look back and see the gate and remember the cat, Gina, looking at the bush and the huge crow that swooped in from behind me.

xxxXXXxxx

_Cramped, and wanting fresh air, I opened the door of the car and stepped out, stretching. I look out at the beautiful yard, and notice a cat crouched, ready to pounce, and staring intently at a bush. Curious, I open the gate and take a few steps forward, not wanting to scare the cat. Suddenly, I hear a loud __**caw, caw**__ and the biggest crow I had ever seen swooped in from behind me._

_It grappled with the cat for a bit, obviously wanting the same thing that the cat had wanted. Defeated, the crow flew off, cawing loudly. I look at the cat, and it goes __**meow**__ to me before stalking off into the house. Trying to see what it had been looking at, I went further into the yard, and look at the bush. I see it move slightly, and then I see a tiny person scrambling down the main stalk of the plant. I blink, surprised. What was going on around here? "Shawn? Where are you?" My aunt, Sadako, calls to me._

_"I'm here," I call back, and go over to her. Maybe it was a side effect of the sickness, hallucinations._

xxxXXXxxx

Coming out of my reverie, I open the back car door and pull out the cat carrier, holding Gina (it really was amazing it had lived for so long). I open the clasp on the cat prison, and she jumps out, and lands, of course, on all four feet. She stretches and glares at me before meowing and moving lazily towards the house.

I reach into my pocket and pull out my keys, unlocking the front door. Just as I remember it, from the stuffed front closet, even to the lampshade that always seemed to be crooked. Smiling, I go back to the car and start unpacking my things and lugging them up to the master bedroom, where I would sleep. I get back in the car and move it quickly, careful not to have it block the driveway, as it was doing before. The rest of my personal belongings were being shipped here, and would arrive in a day or so.

I make myself some tea and go out to the yard and bring a book with me, one of my favorites, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I had always thought that it would be wonderful to live in a chocolate factory but it didn't look like it would happen anytime soon. However, I had nowhere else I would rather be. I petted the cat absentmindedly as I read, stopping occasionally to drink some of my tea.

My aunt Sadako was coming over in a week, and with her Haru, who was still thought to be a crazy lady. But for now, I had a week to myself. Noticing the sun beginning to set, I went back inside and made Gina and me some dinner. After we were done, I went upstairs. As I went into my bedroom, I looked across the hall and saw the Nursery where I had slept. Where I first met Arrietty.

xxxXXXxxx

_I had been lying there, awake, for a while now, not really tired. Suddenly, I heard something. Maybe it was a mouse, and it seemed to be coming from the dollhouse. I had heard my mother, when she was around, tell me about the little people that lived here. I lay completely still, hoping it was one of them. I saw two tiny people, no bigger than 10 centimeters tall, climb on top of the decorative tissue box holder on the table next to the dollhouse. One of them was male, the other female. Grabbing onto the top edge of the tissue, they began to pull it out. The female one looked toward me, and froze, noticing I was awake. I stared at her, and she slowly sank out of sight._

"_Don't be afraid," I said, "I'm not going to hurt you. Would you come out so I can see you?" I heard the noise again, which was what I assumed was them speaking. I could sense them starting to leave, but then something small and white fell to the floor. I waited for another few minutes, until I was sure they were gone. I quietly slipped out of bed and tiptoed over to the white thing and picked it up. Squinting in the moonlight that seeped in through the curtains, I saw that it was a sugar cube._

xxxXXXxxx

Smiling again, I went in and opened the dollhouse. Yes, this would be the _perfect _for them to live in. I took a few minutes straightening it up and cleaning so they could live there. I closed it carefully, and then went over to the window and touched the screen. Ah, the crow. That mean old crow that had tried to get her.

xxxXXXxxx

_I saw a shadow in the leaves outside my window. "I know you're there," I said to her._

_I could see her stiffen. "I have come to tell you to leave us alone."_

"_My name's Shawn. What's yours?" I asked, curious._

_She stiffened again. "Not that it's any of your business, but it's Arrietty."_

"_Arrietty. Arrietty. Arrietty." I rolled the name over my tongue. "It's a beautiful name." Suddenly, there was a whoosh of air and a familiar __**caw, caw**__. She shrieked as I tried to get the window open against the crow. It flapped ferociously, spraying feathers everywhere. Finally, I got the window open, but the crow was still flapping like mad, and she was holding on for dear life by a leaf. Eventually I caught her, just as Haru came into the room._

"_What's going on around here?"_

"_I don't know. The crow just started attacking."_

"_Hmph. I've never seen it act that way. Looks like it was after something." She went over and examined the broken screen. "Look at this! And I'll have to fix it, of course!"_

"_Maybe it was nesting season?" I offered, hoping she would buy it. She did._

"_Nesting season. Hmmm." And slipped out the door._

_I relaxed on my bed and pulled the leaf out from behind my back, where I had been hiding it. There was nothing, just a leaf. Sighing, I flopped back onto my bed and put the leaf over my eyes._

xxxXXXxxx

I looked out the window, and, from here, I could just see the spot where I had said goodbye to her. Somber, I reached into my shirt and pulled a length of cord off from around my neck. Hanging from the end of it, was a little glass bottle and inside of it, the even littler clip she had used for her hair. _See, Arrietty, I never forgot._ I thought. And I never will.


	2. Housekeeping

**THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT SO YOU BETTER READ! So, I just got the manga for this (awesome), and I saw I got some names wrong, as I am using the American dub, so here are the names:**

**Aunt- Jessica  
>cat- Nina<br>Nanny- Hara  
><strong>**Sho- Shawn**

**All the other names are the same, I think. Enjoy capter 2, and sorry for any spelling errors.**

**EDIT: If you are just reading this now, then you don't have to. For people who have already read this, I fixed a spelling error.**

**.Housekeeping. **

I lay there, letting Nina sit in my lap and petting her. Slivers of sunlight seeped through the window shade, and I squinted slightly as one hit my eyes. I was a bit too lazy to get up at the moment, so I thought about what I might do that day. Fix up the house, that was for sure. It had fallen into a sort of disrepair, the gutters were choking on leaves and the roof needed new shingles. Everything was dusty and the doll house needed to be cleaned, ready for living in. Finally, I felt it was time to get ready for the day, and I gently pushed Nina off my chest, where she had been almost asleep, and she meweled in protest, but settled back into my warm spot once I got up.

I quickly used the bathroom, took a shower, then returned to my room and got dressed, throwing on old jeans and a shirt, not caring if they got dirty. I then headed downstairs and made a simple breakfast of toast and coffee. We didn't get the paper, people got lost looking for our road. The _only _road. Nina meowed angrily when she saw me eating, so I got her some food as well.

I went outside, taking a deep breath of sweet spring air. The flowers were in full bloom, all the brooks and rivers were at full capacity, some overflowing. The grass was a vibrant green and soft, good for playing games on. I wished with a pang of sadness that my Father had at least played ball or something on the grass with me _once._ But _no_. He was too busy with his 'extremely important work that needs all of his immediate attention'. But it was never just immediate. Immediate, to him and Mother, meant anywhere from a couple days to a year of a business trip. The divorce didn't help, and even when I was going to get my surgery they paid little to no attention to me.

I started off by pulling out weeds from the flower beds, which were a mess. I made two piles; those that were of no appeal to the eye, and those that were, like dandylions. I put the pretty ones in vases all around the house, to brighten it up a bit. I put the others in compost bins. Then I went back inside and began dusting, scolding myself for putting vases everywhere before dusting. Who does that? Me, apparently. I mowed the lawn and trimmed the hedges, picked up trash that had blown in from other places, washed the sheets and graffitti from the seemingly abandoned house, put the rest of my clothes away, swept and mopped, and other mundane chores.

When I was done, it was three o'clock in the afternoon. I had woken up at six in the morning. Deciding it was finally time for lunch, I made a sandwich and poured myself some lemonade. Nina jumped onto the table too see what I had, so I pulled off a bit of the turkey and put it on the table. She sniffed it tenatively. Finding it to be edible, she quickly nipped at the food, tipping her head back to get it in. She meowed, wanting more, but instead I went back inside and got her some cat food. She did the same thing she had done with the turkey; picking it up by a small part and throwing her head back to eat it.

I went back upstairs to take another shower, as I was rather dirty, and quickly got into something a bit better for wandering about the house. When I was done, I strode over to the Nursery. I was going to clean the dollhouse now.

I carefully took out all the miniscule dishes and cooking utinsels and put them in a bowl, careful not to break anything. I brought them down to the kitchen sink, deciding it would be better to wash them with actual dish soap. I put a tiny mesh sheet over the bottom, so none could fall through. In the bigger side of the sink next to me, I filled it halfway with warm water, pouring soap under the faucet so it became nice and bubbly. I carefully washed them all, one by one, with a rag that I had ripped into fourths. A stream of water dribbled down the side of my face from my still wet hair. Annoyed, I lifted my shoulder and wiped it off. When I was done washing them, I set them out to dry on a towel on a windowsill.

I dried my hands off, then found my waterproof paper and pen. On a tiny slip of it I wrote:

Dear Arrietty and family,

I hope you are doing okay. 

You can come back to the house now!

No more crazy ladies here!

~ Shawn

Then I made a tiny envelope out of the same kind of paper, and found Nina. I secured it to her collar, then knelt down in front of her.

"Bring this to Arrietty. Arrietty!" I repeated her name several more times, staring at my almost sarcastic cat. "You leave this somewhere where they can find it, then come straight back, you hear?" I was talking to the cat like it was a kid. Strange. Shaking my head to rid myself of this, I picked her up and then unceremoniously dumped her outside, closing the door quickly so she couldn't get back in. Oh, how I hope this worked!

**I am really sorry at how short this was, but I felt I should update soon for the people who subscribed and stuff. THANK YOU, ALL! Speaking of updates, I will try to update about once a week, most likley on Sundays. If I can't do it on Sunday, like next Sunday (sorry), I will try to do so as soon as phisically possible. I need time for Real Life too!**


	3. Oh, crap!

**This is rushed, I know, but I wanted to publish it today because the movie is out on DVD. Either today or next month on the 22nd. Written over many sleepless nights. ~ |: zuzu**

When I woke up, I wasn't sure what I was expecting but it definitely wasn't this. Arrietty and three other Borrowers were sleeping in a nest of tissues on my bedside table. How did they get here so fast? I wondered, I only sent the message yesterday. Not wanting to wake them up, I slid out of bed and began making my way to the door. Then I sneezed. Crap. I turned to look at the table, where Arrietty was rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

"Hey," I whispered, walking back over to them.

"Mmm?" she stood up, blinking. "Oh! Shawn, is that you?"

I nodded, sitting down on the bed.

"Yep."She smiled, waving to me from her tiny height. I put a hand in front of her feet, and she climbed onto it. I brought her closer to me. "How did you get here so quickly?" I asked.

"We rode the cat." she answered.I laughed. "You did, did you?"

"Yes!" she said defensively, crossing her arms. "And she is a rather nice cat."

"That's good."The room fell into an uncomfortable silence, which reminded me of a boy I used to go to school with. His name was Billy Milsap, and whenever I turned to look at him, he would always be staring at me. He never turned away, not even the decency to smile. He would just keep staring, and his raspy breathing would fill your ears. The silence in the room grew bigger and bigger, also, coincidentally, like Billy silence was broken when the other three Borrowers woke stared up at me, wide-eyed. I set Arrietty back down on the table.

"This is my mother Homily, my father Pod, and my friend Spiller." She said, gesturing to each of them in turn. Her mother gave a shy wave, her father a nod and a friendly smile, and Spiller looked me over for a bit, then nodded, as if he were approving me.

"So! How did the surgery go?" She asked, sitting down on the edge of the table. Before I could respond, however, her mother spoke.

"Oh, Arrietty, dear, don't sit on the table like that, you'll fall and hurt yourself!" She said worriedly, hurrying over and fussing uselessly over her. She reminded me of a hen, clucking over her chicks.

"Mother, I'll be fine!" She turned to me expectantly.

"I'm better." I tapped the spot where my heart is. "Still sick most the time, but better. My heart isn't bad anymore, just my immune system. I've run a couple of marathons, actually."

Arrietty leant forward, her mother fussing even more. "What's a marathon?"

I frowned, not really knowing the exact definition. "It's when... Beans run a certain length for a race. For fun."

"Oh? Tell me more about the Beans."We talked for hours, then went and got breakfast. The rest of the week was devoted to catching up, cleaning, and getting to know eath other better. Then Hara came.

It was a scorching afternoon; the only reason I was outside was to greet the police car she came in. The two people in the front got out first, one male, one female. They went around back, opening one of the side doors to help a cuffed Hara out of the car. The male was a tall, muscular African American man and the woman looked like she was from somewhere in Asia, possibly Korean. Then, from the other back door, another woman came out, this one American. She was cradling something carefully to her chest. I already knew what it was. She came towards me, a mournful expression on her face, and handed me the object. A pot, bigger than a vase. I ran a thumb across the words inscribed on the side, declaring sadly that it was Aunt Jessica's ashes that it contained. I opened the door so they could come in, closing it behind me. I placed the urn on the mantelpiece, then turned to the guests.

"Hello." I said to them, and then I (reluctantly) hugged Hara.

When she hugged me, she whispered into my ear "Are the little people still here?"

I didn't say anything. She was committed because she believed about the tiny people that lived here. Her claim, while true, was crazy to begin with but the fact that there was no evidence of the tiny people just made her seem crazier. Hell, I could be crazy in believing in the tiny people myself. I could be sitting in a white padded room in a straightjacket for all I knew. The thought reminded me of cartoons, where the're always in those rooms and bleached white jackets. They could be experimenting on me, or this could be some sort of huge computer code, like the Matrix. I could aslo be in a hospital for my heart, doped up on medicine just to keep me alive. _That _was a nasty thought.

Even though that train of thought probably took you about thirty seconds or so to read, it only took a second in my mind. I shook hands with the three escorts. The man's name was Kyle, the Asian woman's name was Jessie, and the American woman's name was Anna.

"We've been keeping Hara on anger and blood pressure medicine because when she gets angry her blood pressure gets way too high." Kyle began. "She needs to have one of us around her at all times. She cannot go outside without telling one of us, and you are not permitted to take her outside. She has a crow feather on a cord around her neck. Don't even attempt to take it off her. She WILL bite. She enjoys eating uncooked spaghetti noodles. Don't ask why, we don't really know either." he paused.

"Okayyyy... is that it?" I asked.

Anna nodded, and then turned to Hara. "Are you hungry?" Hara nodded cheerfully, and they went into the kitchen.

Jessie watched them go, then turned to me. "Also, do not EVER mention the 'tiny people' to her. She still believes about them, but she's beginning to talk about them less and less. We don't want a relapse."

I nodded. "Would you like anyhting to eat or drink?" asked.

"Well, we better check on Anna and Hara, they've been too long already."

We went into the kitchen. Anna was leaning against the wall, and Hara was talking on the phone. "-here! I just know it! ...Yes, yes. Same place. Be quick!" she hung up, slamming the phone down on the reciever.

"Are you done?" asked Anna. Hara nodded again. smiling impishly. I didn't like the look of it.

We went back into the living room, talking about what we had been doing these past years. Her life mostly consisted of relaxing walks, sleeping, swimming, working as a friendly secretary for a company, and other quiet and unstimulating pastimes. After a couple of hours, there was a knock on the door, and Jessie got up to get it.

Someone said "We're Squeaky Klean Exterminators; here to clean your house."

We looked over at the door. Exterminators? The man saw me, then pushed Jessie roughly out of the way and stomped over to me. There were three other men behind him, and they held me down, the others searching my pockets. Soon the found what they were looking for. The Borrowers in my pockets.

The first man smirked at me. "Thought you could get away with the prize, eh?" he brought out a bircage, throwing the Borrowers in. He set it down, then they all tackled us, excluding Hara, who was standing to the side, a triumphant smile on her face. The men held cloths to our noses, and the world faded into black. They had captured the Borrrowers.

**I was also thinking of discontinuing this fic. It's getting worse and worse, and will probably soon turn into just me spouting random crap at you guys. So, please tell me what you think. ~ |: zuzu**

**PS- anyone who can tell me the reference and where it's from gets a special mention in the next chapter.**


	4. Discontinue

**I am very sorry to say that this, and a few of my other stories, are being discontinued. They have fallen flat and I cannot pick them up again. **

**~ |: zuzu**


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